Process of forming paper tubes.



No. 783,004. PATENTED FEB. 21, 905. J. H. WHITE. PROCESS OF FORMING PAPER TUBES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23,1904.

WITNESSES: I INVENTOR {275 A & 0ffi4't- G ZM W BY I 5; ATTORNEYS Patented February 21, 1905.

PATENT Farce,

JOHN H. lVHITE, OF ENGLEWOOD, NElV JERSEY.

PROCESS OF FORMING PAPER TUBES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 783,004, dated February 21, 1905.

Application filed February 23, 1904. Serial No- 194,652.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OIIN H. \Vnrru, a citi- Zen of the United States of America, residing at Englewood, county of Bergen, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Forming Paper Tubes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to an improved process of forming paper tubes, and is particularly adapted for forming tubes in the manufacture of artificial straws.

It has been common in the past to feed or draw a strip of paper longitudinally through a tube-forming die, so as to form the strip into a continuous tube, which is then treated in any suitable manner, as by cementing the edges together, heating, pressing, and paraffining the same, and finally in cutting the tube into the desired lengths. In carrying out such a process several difiiculties are encountered. First, the friction generated between the moving strip of paper and the faces of the die has interposed considerable resistance to the feeding or drawing of the paper through the die; second, electricity has been generated to such an extent as to cause the paper to still further hug the die-faces, so as to still further impede the free passage of the strip therethrough; third, the fiat strip of paper of the quality desirable for forming tubes has considerable stiffness, and the force required to curve the paper into the desired shape is sometimes sufficient to break it at some point between the supply and the tube-forming die, and, fourth, the material is to a certain extent springy and has. a tendency to return to its original condition after being bent.

his the object of my present invention to overcome the difliculties above enumerated, so that tube-forming may be carried out at greater speed than has hitherto been possible. To this end I longitudinally groove, score, rib, or groove and rib the strip of paper or like material prior to feeding it to the tube-forming die, with the result, first, that a smaller quantity of the paper is in actual contact with the tube-forming die during the tube-forming operation, whereby less friction results; sec- 0nd, air-passages are provided between the surface of the strip and the die which will also serve to prevent the paper hugging the die so closely; third, the friction being so much reduced the amount of electricity generated is largely reduced; fourth, the paper being weakened longitudinally is formed into a tube with very much less pressure than is necessary where an entirely flat strip is employed, and, fifth, the tube once formed has less tendency to return to its original flat condition than if it had not been longitudinally ribbed,

grooved, or scored. In actual practice 1 lind that it takes very much less power to draw a slip of paper through the forming-dies when thus longitudinally ribbed, grooved. or scored than without such longitudinal ribbing, grooving, or scoring. of material I have found that it takes even less than one-third of the power and that the material is far less likely to tear or break in course of manufacture than formerly. This enables me to run the paper through the die at verymuch greater speed than was formerly possible, because formerly the limit of speed was soon reached, the resistancebeing so great above such speed as to cause the paper to tear or break.

The drawing herewith shows in top view a conventional form of tube-forming die at a, and a reel of paper I) for supplying paper to the same. The paper may be fed or drawn through the tube-forming die by any suitable means in a 'manner well known. Intel-posed between ,the web of paper 0 and the tubeforming die a are grooving, scoring, or ribbing rollers 0, between which the paper is received in its passage from the web to the die. The precise form of these rollers is not essential, so long as they indent, score, groove, rib, or groove and rib the strip of paper prior to its passing through the tube-forming die,

in fact, with certain classes will of course be understood that tubes for other purposes may be formed within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

That 1 claim is 1. The herein-described process of forming paper tubes, which consists in first grooving a strip of paper longitudinally over substantially the entire surface thereof, and then bending it into substantially cylindrical form by drawing it longitudinally through a tubeforrning die.

2. The herein-described process of forming paper tubes, which consists in first ribbing a strip of paper longitudinally over substantially the entire surface thereof, and then bending it into substantially cylindrical form JOHN H. \VHITE.

\Vitnesses:

EDWARD L. WHITE, CHAS. D. STAINTON. 

